In addition to our educational programs we also offer design, coaching and
consulting services to those interested in creating sustainable shelters.
We may not have any crystal balls but we will have some bright ideas for
you. From mentoring to project management we can help you make it happen
by providing the right advice and guidance for each step of your project.
We are passionate about providing you with sustainable solutions.

Our Design Service
for eco shelters runs out of our Sustainable Living Center.
Effective planning and design can not only create a more comfortable and
convenient space to live in but can save a great deal of time and money
in the creation and operation of your eco building.

Our Sustainability Consultants are available for individuals
planning a new structure and often travel to clients sites to facilitate
the planning and development of their projects. Their fees for Mentoring,
Consulting or Project Management are all quite reasonable considering
both the time and money they can save you over the life of your structure.
They can work with you and your architect and builder to help guide you
through all the sustainable building issues for your project. Helping
to keep your building on a sustainable path.

Sustainable Design
Services
At Earthwalk we craft thoughtful and sustainable smart homes. We design solutions
that help you make efficient use of your solar income. We explore all
your sustainable energy options. We use selective materials, such as low
VOC adhesives, paints and stains to reduce hazardous toxins in your home.
We also search for products that are produced sustainability and locally.
For example, bamboo flooring is a sustainability harvested product that
is as hard as oak flooring and can be replenished much faster than trees.
We also help you to recycle or reuse any leftover building and packaging
materials, leaving little or no waste for the landfill.

To
be certified by Energy Star, a home needs to be tested to be at least
25% more efficient than a typical home built to code. Many of our home
designs have proven to be at over 50% more energy efficient than conventionally
built homes. Of course every project is unique but we typically incorporate
dozens of smart home features in our projects. We specify the latest in
highest efficiency insulation, heating and cooling systems and water heaters
that are extremely efficient. We maximize the use of natural light in
our designs and all light fixtures are Energy Star with compact fluorescent
and other high efficiency bulbs.
We make use of timers and occupancy sensors to reduce your unneeded lighting
costs. For additional water and energy savings, we use dual flush toilets
and low flow fixtures. We can incorporate rain water harvesting systems for additional reserve water
supply. We always design in water quality processing that insures a healthy
water supply for your family. We
also incorporate air quality systems that remove unwanted irritants and
toxins from your air supply.

We have tested hundreds of
eco building products and materials and we only recommend products that
have proven to be effective over time. This way we can have confidence
in the solutions we recommend.

Eco
RetrofitsAt Earthwalk will can help you plan, design, and complete your remodeling
projects. We use our green building and energy efficient principles on
remodeling projects as well as new construction. Simply book an appointment
with one of our Eco Design Consultants and they can guide you through
the entire process.

We also like to use as much
recycled material in our homes as possible and we are compiling a complete
reuse guide to assist you with your recycled content in your projects.

Sustainable Building Consulting Services

Planning
is at the heart of any successful strategy. Our Sustainable Building Consultants
have a wide variety of expertise and experience that can contribute to
your project. All of our consultants are available to assist you with
your project in a variety of formats. Of course their available time and
fees are linked to the degree of involvement with your project. We offer
their services in three ways, Coaching, Consulting and Project Management.
Coaching: Your Sustainability Coach is available by prearranged
appointment to assist and advise you by phone or email. Your coach can
provide you with critical insights, mentoring and recommendations on each
step of the process subject to their availability. However they are generally
not involved in on site services. However their input can be extremely
valuable to the success of your project. Call our office for our Coaching
rates and availability.

Consulting: Your Sustainability Consultant - is available
for more than just coaching. Your consultant can provide you with research,
analysis, planning and implementation assistance from concept to completion.
Consulting is a collaborative process and our consultant work with you
and your team to achieve your objectives. When the unexpected arises they
can meet you on site and provide on the spot input on specific issues.
Their main objective is to provide you with the information and resources
to make informed decisions about your project and all the elements that
can contribute to its success. Call our office for Consultants rates and
availability.
Project Management: Some of our Sustainability Consultants have
the experience and expertise to act as your Project Manager. In this capacity
they are not only your coach and consultant but can be much more involved
in the implementation of the project plan and involved in specifying material
and engaging and supervising the various providers. Generally in this
role they not only keep you informed about the factors impacting on each
decision but they are also authorized to make decisions regarding the
implementation process.
Call our office for our Project Manager rates and availability.

Green Construction
Project Management

All of our consultants are familiar with the complex considerations involved
in sustainable construction principals and values. However each consultant
has a different set of experiences to draw on. We select the project manager
based on the type of construction involved in your project. We carefully
match the skills and experience of our Project Manager to the specifics
of your project.

Your project manager is involved in every step of the process, insuring
the integrity of the process and the quality of the results. We are part
of the team at every stage and direct the entire process keeping it on
track, on budget and on time. Here is an outline of some of the steps
that are involved from the Sustainable Building Project Management perspective.

Clearing and Excavating

Before we clear a building
site, we accurately stake out building and utility locations and if need
be modify those locations to make best use of the environmental qualities
of the site.

When
we clear a lot, we do not just remove the trees and send them to a landfill
or quarry for burning. We will selectively remove trees as needed, and
all full sized trees removed will be used for saw logs. Some can used
for rough framing material. Others we will use for trim boards and other
interior finish material. Logs too small for any of the above uses are
cut into firewood. Small trees can be relocated on the clients property.
And all brush can be chipped for reuse as erosion control while building
or finished landscaping.

Foundation and Building

Before
the foundation is poured, we are already paying attention to the detail
of energy efficiency. We insulate underneath the basement slab, and the
entire length and height of the foundation walls, including the top portion.
No foundation concrete is left exposed to cause heat loss in your home.
This also keeps the thermal mass of the concrete inside the insulation
providing an integral heat sink for your building.

During the framing stage that
same attention is paid, particularly in the hardest to insulate portion
of the framing, the box sill. First the sill plate is sealed to the foundation
wall, and then rim board is sealed to the sill plate.
The
entire floor system is built just a bit different from a typical floor
to allow us to install continuous air sealing and insulation along the
entire length of the box sill.

Throughout the remainder of
the framing process issues concerning air sealing and insulation continue
to be of main focus for Earthwalk. Many of the details we incorporate
at the framing stage are very difficult if not impossible to accomplish
later on.

As we add our smart home infrastructure
to your home we take care to maximize the energy and sustainability benefits
at every step of the way.

Forethought at this stage pays
huge dividends in the quality and comfort of your home in the end.

Finishing Touches

To us there is nothing as beautiful
as simple details done perfectly. So we take care to ensure that there
are only natural and non toxic materials used in the finishing process.
We can even offer you guidance in equipping and furnishing your home to
avoid importing toxins and to optimize the operational efficiency of your
home.

How
can I use more recycled and reclaimed products in my buildings?

Materials
used for constructing houses frequently cause some environmental pollution
during their production. Reclaimed materials and products made from recycled
material, are likely to cause less environmental damage than new products
and can also reduce refuse and land fill.

This site contains guidance
on issues ranging from planning, choosing and specifying materials, to
case studies of recycled & reclaimed material use.

Why More Recycled And Reclaimed
Materials Should Be Used

Many materials used for constructing houses cause environmental issues
during their production. Quarries can damage landscape, wood can come
from unsustainable sources, metals use a lot of energy in production,
PVC production produces atmospheric pollution, and so on.

Using reclaimed materials and
products is an obvious solution to this issue

Recycling schemes organized
by local authorities and the refuse industry need a market for materials
collected, and products for use in buildings can be a large scale use,
cellulose insulation from waste paper being a good example.

Many housing sites already
use hardcore from demolished buildings but there are a whole range of
other lesser known products that can be used in the "recycled house".
By using them, we can:

Earthwalk can help you increase the use of reclaimed and recycled materials..
and to help the Environment!

Environmental Impact of Specific Materials

This section provides information on selected materials which are used
in products on the web site. The process of assessing environmental impact
is complex and can potentially include a very wide range of individual
impacts. Those considered here include:

Bricks and terra cotta tiles
are one of the oldest known building materials, dating back at least 6,000
years. The basic material is clay, a widespread and naturally occurring
material to which water, and sometimes sand or slag, is added to make
it workable. The formed clay is then fired in kilns at temperatures of
up to 1000 degrees Celsius. Energy use for brick manufacture is considerable
and increases steeply as firing temperatures increase. As fired clay is
a durable material, recycling of bricks and tiles is both possible and
desirable, especially where bricks are re-used for facing purposes, which
requires higher firing temperatures. However, recycling is only really
economic if lime mortars have been used.

Vitrified ceramic tiles are
fired from dry pressed clay, often with ground white clay (kaolin) added.
The product is fired until vitrified and can be glazed. Both firing and
glazing are energy-intensive processes. Recycling of ceramic tiles is
impractical. However, certain products contain a high percentage of process
waste, which helps to reduce the energy content of manufacture.

Concrete

Concrete consists of approximately
53% gravel, 26% sand, 14% cement and 7% water. Quarrying of gravel and,
to a lesser extent sand, have ecological implications because of their
impact on landscapes, often in areas of natural beauty, and the impact
of transport and waste disposal operations. Portland cement manufacture,
from lime with added sand and clay, is energy-intensive since firing temperatures
of up to 2000 degrees Celsius are required. This process also releases
carbon dioxide (CO2) and is therefore a contributor to global warming.

Use of recycled aggregate made
from crushed brick and concrete is possible in casting of concrete slabs
for house foundations. In parking spaces, crushed Portland cement concrete
can replace up to 20% of the gravel.

Lightweight pre-cast concrete
blocks made from cement, sand and lime are a widely used structural material
and can contain a large proportion of PFA (Pulverized Fuel Ash / Fly-Ash).
This is a waste material from power-stations burning fossil fuels.

Plastics

Plastics (synthetic materials)
are very widely used in construction because of their low weight and great
durability; all are currently derived from petroleum, and many require
substantial energy input in conversion to raw synthetics.

Thermoplastics

Common thermoplastic materials
are polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), which are obtained by a
polymerization process from the semi-manufactured products ethylene and
propylene. The additional pollution caused by this process is minimal,
and few, relatively harmless additives are required. Thermoplastics are
also easily recyclable.

PVC

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is
a synthetic material in common use for drainage, window and flooring applications.
It is manufactured from ethylene and from chlorine, resulting in ethylene
dichloride, whose production process creates large amounts of toxic waste
containing dioxins and organochlorines. Many other chemicals are added
to PVC as stabilizers, plasticisers, fillers etc; these include the phthalate
DEHP, and the heavy metal cadmium, which is usually added to PVC for outdoor
use as a stabilizer.

Recycling of PVC is mainly
limited to production waste, there being few if any collection systems
in place for post-consumer waste. However there are a number of recycled
PVC products listed on this web site.

The environmental pressure
group Greenpeace have called on those making decisions about building
materials to specify products made from alternative materials because
of the dangers of environmental contamination. It should be noted that
the British Plastics Federation considers that the environmental impacts
referred to above are outweighed by the material’s performance as
a product in use, and because its low weight means that less energy is
consumed in transportation.

Specifiers thinking of making
use of PVC are advised to consider whether or not alternative materials
with lower environmental impact will meet their needs. If not, this web
site. provides information on recycled PVC products for external cladding,
sheet piling, window cavity closers and floor tiling. Alternatives to
these products include timber cladding, steel piling, steel and thermoplastic
cavity closers and linoleum and rubber floor tiles (the last product is
listed on this web site.).

Steel

Essential materials for the
production of steel are coke (made from coal) and iron ore, whose extraction
has ecological impacts due to the strip-mining process. Steel production
also results in the emission of greenhouse and acid rain-contributing
gases. However steel is easily recycled; while steel produced in the UK
only contains around 16% recycled content, the recycling rate is a more
important factor in Life Cycle Assessment. Because steel-making in Europe
and elsewhere can make use of 100% recycled steel, in turn the UK recycling
rate is high. The use of recycled steel means a reduction of about 30%
in energy use for primary production.

Aluminum

Aluminum’s principal
constituent is bauxite, which is strip-mined, and can cause habitat degradation.
The use of large amounts of electricity are indispensable to its manufacture,
and this results in very high levels of embodied energy, and CO2 emissions
per tonne of product approximately twice that of steel. However much aluminum
is recycled in the UK, and making use of recycled aluminum in the production
process results in an energy saving of 80-95%.

Cellulose fibre insulation

Cellulose fibre insulation
is made from processed waste paper, usually treated with borax for fire
and insect protection. Because of the low intensity production process
it has a much lower embodied energy content than most other insulation
products. No research has been carried out on toxicity, and potential
respiratory impact, but these risks are thought to be low. The product
is inherently recyclable.

Glass fibre
Insulation

Sand, limestone and other ingredients are heated to 1350 degrees to make
glass fibre. Embodied energy content is about half that of plastic insulation
products such as polystyrene and polyurethane, but in turn is over three
times higher than mineral wool, and about five times higher than cellulose.
A concern is the creation of potentially carcinogenic small fibres which
can lodge in the body, although risks to workers can be minimized with
appropriate controls.

Wood and Wood Products

Wood is one of the most flexible
and adaptable construction materials. It is very widely used in solid
form for purposes such as carcassing, trimming, flooring and fittings.
It is also increasingly used in wood panel form for many functions such
as wall and roof construction, flooring and fittings such as cupboards.
Wood panels include such widely known materials as MDF (Medium Density
Fibre board) and chipboard, and are made from wood chips and / or sawdust,
which are bound together with resin under high pressure.

Wood is also inexpensive compared
with other materials and widely available. The increasing volumes used
(approximately 50 millions cubic meters were used in the UK in 1990) have
led to wide concern about the destruction of forest habitat and its impacts
on plant, animal and human lives in all climate zones of the world. As
a result, a number of schemes which certify wood and wood products as
being of sustainable origin have been set up, of which the best known
is that operated by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) (3).

Clearly re-use of wood products
such as doors, windows and structural timber, instead of products made
from new wood, is beneficial in terms of its saving in energy and resources.
A range of such products will be found on the Salvo web site.

Project Planning

Anyone
planning a project incorporating recycled materials should be integrating
the idea into the planning and design process as early as possible. Early
review of the costs will enable considered choices to be made within the
available budget. Housing professionals may need to be familiar with the
reasons for using recycled materials, and any changes to the procurement
process.

Demolition Stage
It is important to alert main vendors of development sites, or main contractors
at a very early stage that demolition materials such as crushed concrete
or hardcore may be used in the new development. Otherwise valuable sources
of topsoil, site fill and base materials for roads and paths may be lost.

Design Stage
The design process will proceed more smoothly if architects and other
designers have early notice of the requirement to specify recycled materials,
as they may be unfamiliar with the concept. Standard specifications and
employers' requirements are also likely to need adaptation.

Builders and their sub-contractors,
whether involved in the design process or not, are likely to be unfamiliar
with using recycled materials. Some contractors, such as Laing Homes at
Langley Park, have organized special training sessions for sub-contractors
making use of re-used materials to ensure that they have the necessary
information.

Time tabling,
Costing and Purchasing
The additional time required to source recycled materials needs to be
built into project timetables. In some cases, for instance where re-used
bricks or timber are employed, the labour content for particular tasks
may be longer. Any additional costs clearly need to be taken account of
in project costing.

Purchasing managers and sub-contractors
may need to be briefed on how to source materials which differ from products
normally purchased and which may not be available from usual sources.

Sourcing
For re-used materials one option is to identify a building which is about
to be demolished, and from which materials can be stockpiled until required
for the new development.

How To Specify Reclaimed
And Recycled Materials

Client and designer need to ensure that the contractor (and subcontractors)
will use the selected recycled materials, whatever type of contract is
being used. Yet the contractor should not be restricted to the extent
of increased costs or delays to the program, if particular materials are
difficult to find or not readily available.

Traditional specifications
and contracts.
The use of reclaimed or recycled materials can be specified for particular
parts of the construction. Or particular materials can be specified to
contain a minimum percentage of post consumer waste. The contractor then
has free choice in sourcing the material, as long as the specification
is followed.

For example in the National
Building Specification (NBS), clauses for proprietary reference specification
are available for a wide range of products. Products that utilize recycled
materials can be named in these clauses. For some recycled and reused
materials (demolition materials, reclaimed bricks, stone etc.) clauses
are included while for others (e.g. recycled aggregate for concrete) general
guidance only is given due to lack of agreed testing and quality control
standards.

Employers' requirements
Special clauses can be inserted requiring the use of reclaimed and recycled
materials, and products made from recycled materials for particular parts
of the construction, for example:

If concrete block construction
is used, the aggregate shall be post consumer waste or crushed recycled
concrete
External guttering, down pipes and water butts shall be made from 100%
recycled plastic
Subcontractor clauses.
Sub-contractors are normally required to adhere to what is required of
the main contractor, so that no additional clauses should be necessary.

Learn more about sustainable
building...

Eco
Shelter Design Follow this
link to learn about our sustainable building design services. Planning
can make all the difference and save a great deal of time and money in
the crafting of any green building.

Sustainability
Consulting Services
Follow this link to learn about personal sustainable construction coaching
and consulting services. From mentoring to project management we can help
you make it happen by providing the right advice and guidance for each
step of your project.

Eco Products
We have tested hundreds of eco building products and materials and we
only recommend products that have proven to be effective over time. We
have identified sources for many of these products on our Sustainable
Products page. You can follow this link to source many of your sustainable
solutions.Eco Services
We have evaluated local service providers that can build your green home
or install your eco technologies. Follow this link to review our list
of Sustainable Service Providers. This list is by no means complete but
the providers on this list have qualified to be there or we would not
be endorsing their services.

Books , CD's & Publications - If you have the time
to read there are more and more books being published on the subject of
sustainable construction and we have a number of Green Building books
available through our Resource Center.

If you like the personal touch,
we will be inviting many of these authors to do presentations at Earthwalk
and we will list these events in our schedule
of events.

Our Web Site - Of course this web site is another resource
you can use when planning a green building project. It will be constantly
expanding with additional information and articles on the subject. On
these pages you will find an over view of number of resources and a discussion
of some of the issues and possibilities that you might want to consider
including in your next building project. More importantly we will endeavor
to link you to a wide variety of useful information sources.

Online Resources
- You can follow many of the useful links on our Links
of Interest page. We are also compiling a Sustainability Resource
List with contact information for sustainability providers that will be
available at our future workshops.